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The man who stabbed Nighisti Semret in Cabbagetown last year seriously injured his own hand or arm, police say.

Nighisti Semret was stabbed to death as she walked home from work in the early morning hours of Oct. 23 in Cabbagetown. Police are offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in her murder.

By Andrew Nguyen andSahar Fatima Staff Reporters

Mon., May 6, 2013

Toronto police are offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the Cabbagetown murder of Nighisti Semret last year.

The attacker injured his hand and arm during the stabbing and police found a significant amount of his blood on the opening of Semret’s canvas bag, homicide Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux said Monday.

Police are asking the public for details on any man matching the suspect’s description who may have badly injured his hand or arm. The man possibly didn’t get treatment as suspects are typically wary of questions asked by medical staff, Giroux said.

Semret was stalked and fatally stabbed with a 20-centimetre kitchen knife as she walked home just before 7 a.m. after an overnight cleaning shift at the Delta Chelsea Hotel on Oct. 23, 2012. She had been taking a shortcut through a parking lot east of Bleecker St.

Security footage from a building on Bleecker shows a man walking behind Semret and then running past the camera after the incident. The suspect is thought to be familiar with the Cabbagetown area.

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“Based on the fact that the offender took some interest in relation to the bag that Ms. Semret was carrying, and in relation to opening it, I’m going to suggest that robbery could be a very strong possibility,” Giroux said.

The man’s blood was also found on an umbrella at the scene and his DNA was found under Semret’s fingernails, suggesting she had scratched him, Giroux said.

Enough blood was found on the items to suggest it had been flowing from the man’s wound.

“I’ve had other investigations where the offender will attempt to control the victim during the attack . . . and the offender, in an attempt to stab the victim, actually sticks the knife into his own hand or arm,” Giroux said.

Another man tried to stop the attack on Semret by using his own umbrella as a weapon and managed to make the attacker drop the knife. The assailant picked it back up and it was during this time that his blood flowed onto the umbrella.

Police have run the attacker’s DNA through national databases but did not find any matches. Other suspects have also been cleared because their DNA was not a match.

Police described the suspect as a white man between 150 and 180 pounds, medium build with dark eyebrows. He wore a heavy, three-quarter-length dark jacket with circular buttons on the cuffs, a light-coloured scarf and dark hat.

Semret, a 55-year-old mother of four, was born in Eritrea and had come to Canada as a refugee in 2010. Members of the Eritrean-Canadian community held vigils and raised funds for her funeral costs.

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